Homework Sets: 40% of grade
Hour tests (3 of them): 40%
Independent topic report 20%
Final Exam: 0% (last Hour Test during the
final exam period)
Students with special needs may request appropriate accommodation;
call UT's office of Services for Students with Disabilities, 471-6259.

Subject Matter, Goals, and Miscellaneous Comments

What is it? Who am I speaking to? Astronomy 352K is a junior/senior-level
introduction to stellar astronomy and astrophysics, with emphasis on observational and
empirical methods for studying stars via the light they emit. It is designed mainly for
upper-division astronomy majors, but it is also suitable for students majoring in closely
related fields such as physics, mathematics, or engineering.

Prerequisites? I expect you to have taken Physics 316 (Electricity & Magnetism) and its
associated lab course Physics 116L, which have as their prerequisites Physics 301 (Mechanics)
and 101L, and relevant math courses. It is acceptable to have taken instead the Engineering
Physics courses 303K and 303L, with their lab courses. Astronomy draws on such a wide
variety of areas in physics that we cannot expect you to have prior preparation in all of them,
and so we will introduce physical ideas and laws as needed. (Examples include the theory of
radiation, atomic structure, and statistical mechanics.) We will usually be interested mainly
in applying physical principles, rather than in deep and lengthy derivations, and in general
the mathematical manipulations expected of you (e.g., on homework sets) will be pretty
straightforward.

Background? We do not assume that you have strong (indeed, any!) previous
background in astronomy, although many of the students will have previously taken other upper-division astronomy
courses or at least had an introductory astronomy course such as AST 307
or 301. If you find that there are gaps in your basic astronomy knowledge, please ask me or
the TA to explain or elaborate (either in class or during office hours). You might also find
it helpful to consult one of the many fine introductory textbooks that are widely available
(I can lend you one of them). It should take you only a few evenings to master all of the
relevant material that is contained in these books.